The National President of the Conference of Directors of Education (CODE), Ibrahim Mumuni, has raised concerns over inadequate logistics, ageing vehicles and poor conditions of service for District Directors of Education and School Improvement Support Officers (SISOs), warning that these challenges are undermining effective school supervision.
According to him, many education directorates lack reliable means of transport and essential personnel, making it difficult for officers to regularly monitor teaching and learning activities in schools.
Mr Mumuni raised the concerns at the 33rd Annual Conference of Directors of Education, held in Bolgatanga in the Upper East Region.
The conference was organised under the theme, “From Policy to Classroom: District Leadership for Quality Learning Outcomes and 21st Century Skills for National Development.”
The annual gathering provides a platform for education directors to strengthen their professional capacities, deliberate on challenges affecting pre-tertiary education and make recommendations to inform national education policies.
Addressing participants, Mr Mumuni said achieving quality education required more than developing policies, stressing that district education leaders must be adequately resourced to ensure that those policies are effectively implemented in classrooms.
“Our theme is a call to close the gap between beautiful policies and classroom realities. As educationist Michael Fullan noted, ‘Educational change depends on what teachers do and think, it’s as simple and as complex as that.’ But what teachers do depend on what district leadership enables them to do,” he said.
Highlighting the logistical challenges confronting education directorates, the CODE President said many official vehicles used by directors were ageing and unsafe, while motorbikes used by SISOs were equally old.
He questioned how education officers could effectively supervise large numbers of schools without reliable transportation.
“How do we supervise 100+ schools without mobility? As the saying goes, ‘You cannot monitor education by remote control’,” he stated.
Mr Mumuni also expressed concern about the shortage of essential personnel in education directorates, including drivers, security officers, procurement officers and planning officers.
He said drivers employed by the Ghana Education Service were among the lowest-paid workers in the public sector, while SISOs, who regularly travel to schools under difficult weather conditions, received no dedicated monitoring and supervision allowance.
According to him, the absence of adequate logistical and financial support places additional pressure on officers responsible for ensuring that schools comply with educational standards and improve learning outcomes.
The CODE President further lamented the lack of structured capacity-building programmes for serving Directors of Education and General Managers, stressing the need for continuous professional development to equip them for their responsibilities.
His concerns highlighted the need to strengthen district-level education administration to ensure that national policies translate into improved teaching, effective supervision and better learning outcomes for students.
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